So much so that, during last year's Hlinka Gretzky Cup, Dach took a whirl at another position for Team Canada.
"They said they wanted to win a gold medal and would I play right wing?," recalled Dach. "So I did for a few games, and we won the gold medal."
Kelley beamed about that one.
"Tells you of his character," he said. "Kirby is a confident kid, but humble, not arrogant."
After the Blackhawks surrendered an egregious 292 goals last season, there arose a plethora of fan-o-grams that they had to fix that. They still do, but Friday night's choice was never going to be a defenseman. There is an abundance of them in the pipeline, and they take longer to develop before teams know what they have. The Blackhawks are quite sure, this very minute, about what they have in Dach. They liked Alex Turcotte, another center, a local lad from Illinois.
But not as thoroughly as their career projections for Dach, who in Saskatoon wore No. 77, a jersey Hall of Famer Paul Coffey fashioned during a cameo with the Blackhawks in the late '90s. Also, not since 2014, Nick Schmaltz, have they tapped a forward in the first round.
For what it's worth, Rogers Arena did not quiver when the Blackhawks uttered Dach's name. As if pre-ordained, Jack Hughes went to New Jersey at No. 1 and Kaapo Kakko to the Rangers at No. 2. But after that, well, how many mock-drafts have been issued? Maybe 500? Or is that a bit low? Anyway, it seems that Dach was a top-10 in all, a top-five in a majority. Basically, the same core of elites just changed places.